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Your writing mantra

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londongirl View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote londongirl Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Your writing mantra
    Posted: 03 Aug 2011 at 9:16am
I came across the following sentence in an article about iconic industrial design and realised it equated to my writing mantra:

Remove all that is extraneous until all that remains is absolutely necessary - and beautiful.

If you had a writing mantra, what would it be?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sutekh137 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Aug 2011 at 10:55am
I'd probably settle on the same thing as yours except without the "and beautiful" on the end.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder (the reader, in this case), so I can't really control that. Trying to make sure it is beautiful from my end feels like it runs the risk of me obsessing over it or never being able to let go of it. But by making sure I have written clearly and efficiently, whatever story I have put in play should be as accessible to the reader (including myself) as possible.  That's about all I can shoot for. Some readers might really identify with the work and like it, while others might still think it's crap.

In that sense, perhaps I might tack on a different rider:

Remove all that is extraneous until all that remains is absolutely necessary - then stop and set it free.

Thanks,
JoeK
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Slow down. In attempting to do everything at once, you're missing it all.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote londongirl Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Aug 2011 at 10:58am
Mine could be read that when you have done the first bit, the 'beautiful' is the result, whether it was your intention or not.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sutekh137 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Aug 2011 at 11:24am
Ah, true. That's my default as well.  If I have written something, anything, then I figure it is beautiful by default.  I've created something that wasn't there before, and that's a Good Thing (assuming it wasn't written with a demonstrable goal of hurting someone else).

JoeK
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sootfoot5 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Aug 2011 at 11:58am
sometimes, "Just write and see what happens" is good enough for me.  Like, it is difficult sometimes to settle down to the task of writing.  That's what is great about these comps - they force a person to just DO IT.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tinkerbeba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Aug 2011 at 1:57pm
Mine would be: Say what you mean to say.  Not very poetic or inspiring, but it works sometimes.  :)


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jrobbins79 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Aug 2011 at 4:25pm
I always liked Hitchcock's "Drama is life with the dull bits cut out."  Which is pretty similar to yours, LG.
 
If I'm writing action, I like "Blow Up the Outside World" by Soundgarden.  Mantras rock!  Cool
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bbibo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Aug 2011 at 10:46pm
I found mine on a misprinted fortune cookie.
"You are the mast of every situation."


23-"The League of Intergalactic Grandpas"
http://billbibojr.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-league-of-intergalactic-grandpas.html
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote topangarose Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Aug 2011 at 3:28am
I think Soot just gave me mine....
 
   "Just DO it!"
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dsaslav Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Aug 2011 at 2:21pm
I guess as a non-writer as of August 2009, I never had a mantra. 

But you all have taught me so much, perhaps my mantra should reflect what I've learned:

"Say it without extraneous exclamation marks!!!!"

LOL

OK, seriously then: 

"Write as you would speak; give the reader the experience of your personal inner monologue and thought sequence.  Speak all your dialogue aloud to make sure human beings would ever actually say such a thing in that way."


David Saslav

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All Prior NYCM Prompts and Stories (except one) may be found beginning August/September 2009, at
http://dsaslav.blogspot.com/
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